I'm 17 and I have terminal cancer. I've created a bucket list because there are so many things I still want to do in my life ... some are possible, some will remain a dream. My blog is to document this precious time with my family and friends, doing the things I want to do.
You only have one life ... live it!

25 January 2012

I'm trying to be good and update my blog a bit more cos everything keeps thinking I'm dead or something when I don't, so here it is. I have had lots of good news in the last couple of days.Firstly, my new Emma Bridgewater mug comes out tomorrow and I am so excited that I can't stop thinking about it. My first mug raised a huge amount of cash for the THHN and this mug is going to be raising money for my own charity, Alice's Escapes. It's so nice to know that my charity will be there after I'm gone and that other kids like me can always have a holiday with their family. I think that you'll be able toFIND MY MUG ON HERE from tomorrow. We had fun seeing your photos last time and I'm hoping to have a new photo album on myAlice's Escapes Facebook pages so that we can see pictures of everyone with their mug again. I still have the picture of Holly the Labradoodle with her mug on my wall :) and I loved the chickens and the Spiderman photos. I challenge you to do something unusual with your mug - my mum has said that she'll take hers up Kilimanjaro with her and raise a toast to me at the top!

The second thing that is really interesting to look at, is our Team Alice on Tour LEJOG blog - I like saying that, LEJOG BLOG, LEJOG BLOG ... ha ha you go wrong very quickly! If you have a look at their blog, it tells you all about the training, the route and our wonderful sponsors. On the right side is a list of the different days and if you click into them, you can actually see exactly where they'll be cycling every day, how far it is and if there are any big hills! If I wasn't already dying, I think that cycling 100 miles a day would finish me off! I'm keeping focused on living and I'm hoping that I might be able to do an appearance along the route, but from the comfort of the support car.

My charity is coming along and we have had more generous offers from local businesses. I'll get told off for not remembering them all, but one new accommodation provider is Park Cliffe at Windermere and I'm so excited about them supporting us, cos caravan holidays are one of my favourite. So, huge thanks to them and all the other businesses who are supporting us. Park Cliffe have also kindly offered to make us their charity of the year as have the ladies of Dunnerholme golf club in Askam. We're really grateful to everyone who is thinking about how they can help us. Our registration to be an official charity has gone in and we're all hoping that will be back very soon and then we will be able to offer collection tubs for you to have in your shop or work.

Mabel is still so lovely and I'm hoping to get to visit the people at the home this week - I was away all of December and haven't managed to get back there yet this year, cos I've been so tired, but I'm going to try on Friday if they'll have me lol. I think Mabel has missed her little trips there cos she gets lots of biscuits. Mum is trying to fit lots of walking in so that she can do the K2B - she's organised a huge group of Team Alice walkers and it wouldn't look very good if she can't do it. Ha ha I know she'll do it really. Mum has also booked the Team Alice trip to climb Kilimanjaro so she's kind of committed to that now. As soon as we're registered, we'll have Just Giving sponsor sites and you can sponsor her, Dad and the rest of the team.

20 January 2012

Happy 2012 and I hope it's a nice one for you. I was trying to think about what I should say about not blogging for a bit and then I thought I'd just say that i was a bit sleepy and not really with it to write too much, but that I'm still happy. So I decided I would call this Sleepy, Happy cos I remembered they were two of the seven dwarves and I really loved Snow White when I was little.I've been sleeping loads lately but still going out in the afternoons and I'm spending lots of time doing charity things in the evenings. My charity is just about ready to go and it's really exciting cos there's so much going on. I haven't got the list cos mums downstairs, but I've spoke to some really nice people over the last week and managed to get some sponsors for some of our main charity events and everyone has been really nice to me. I'm not really very good at phone things or tv stuff and I always get stuck and don't know what to say. I wish I was brave enough but I just can't do it and it's a shame because I keep missing things where I know it would be good if I had the confidence to talk. But it's probably a bit late for me to worry about that now lol. We've got lots of things arranged for fundraising and I think that you can see them all here under events. It's just a homemade site for the minute because we still haven't got our proper one going, oh and the pay button thing doesn't work either. My mum is trying to figure that out lol, we were never very good with these things lol. My mum has spent hours and hours sorting the Keswick to Barrow and Coniston to Barrow teams out and I was probably as glad as her when she said that she'd got all the teams in and made the lists. But now she's starting to do other things, I don't think she likes doing nothing! Anyway, it was my mums birthday a week ago and we made her promise to do no work and to leave her iPhone in her drawer (that killed her) and we took her for a nice lunch and my nan did her a party tea as well. Mum said it was her best birthday ever :) There is a group of runners training for the Coniston 14 for Team Alice and another brave group who are going to cycle all the way from Lands End to John O Groats - yikes. Simon who is doing that has started a blog so I'll get mum to tell me address and I'll add it later on the side bit. Then it will be the Keswick to Barrow and my sister is walking the coast to coast walk in the summer holidays with my uncle and then on 27th September, my mum and dad are going up Kilimanjaro with a whole group of Team Alice. They're all mad!I was down at Alder Hey after mums birthday and we had a meeting about who will look after me when I need extra care and stuff. Home are trying to make me have a man and I really don't want him and now we don't know if we're going to have to move just to get a care team who I am comfortable with. I think it's silly that you keep reading about human rights but that is only for people who have come here illegal from abroad or have done a crime or something. Not for children who are dying, I have no rights. We'll see what happens but it really wouldn't matter to me as long as I have Mabel. I think mum is getting tired fighting and all they do is arrange meetings to discuss things that we already know.I've been gone off here a little bit but you don't know that, but I got a message about a girl in Scotland called Vanessa. Well, Vanessa is a bit like me because she has cancer as well, but one called Neurobalstoma - I can't spell it and my spellchecker doesn't recognise it ooops. This country can't offer her any chances now but in America, there are still quite good chances for her to get better again. The bad bit is that it will cost a fortune but her friends and family are all trying to get the money together to try and save her. Watch this video of her, she's so lovely and she does still have a chance. I know that if I had even a tiny chance, my mum and dad would do anything to make it happen. So please have a look at her video and if every single one of my followers on here gave just a couple of pounds, she'd get thousands. I don't know why the message came to me tonight but it did and I was just blogging here so I think it means I was meant to try and do something to help. She has her own website here and if you want to donate directly, this is her Justgiving page. Last week I was invited to open a new charity shop in Barrow in Furness, called the Furness Children's Trust and I was so pleased that they asked me. I've been trying to tell everyone to take any unwanted things in there. They are raising money to support families with children who are ill or disabled buy helping with things like wheelchairs or travelling costs. We hope that we'll be able to offer some of their families a break and they are hoping to help us too, so it was special to be part of it. I'm hoping to go in next week and mum has got a bag of stuff to take down :)I'm busy making little felted animals and cards for when we have a coffee morning for Alice's Escapes. My nan is knitting and mum is planning some crafts too so hopefully we'll have some nice things whenever it happens. The last thing that happened to me this week is that I found out that I've made it to the finals of the Love Barrow award, a local award celebrating good things in the area. I'm in the Courage section and Milly also made the short list in the Young Citizen which made me happy :) It made me think about it. What is courage? To be courageous, you have to face a fear and I'm not really afraid of much - well, maybe standing on a stage speaking, but I haven't managed that, have I lol.

I'm running for Alice ...

About Me

Hi, I'm 17 years old and live with my parents and sister in Ulverston.
I've been fighting cancer for over 5 years and now I know that the cancer is gaining on me and it doesn't look like I'm going to win this one :(
I'm hoping to write in here as much as I can and I'm also going to show my bucket list which I'm trying to get done before I have to go. Hopefully, I'll update as I tick each one off the list :)